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Middle School Honors Classes
Is Your Child Ready?
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Middle school is an important period of growth for children. There are, of course, the hormonal changes and the growing importance of peer relations. But what is learned in the classroom at this time is equally important for middle school youth. "Middle school is when most of the basics are taught," says Stacy DeBroff, author of The Mom Book Goes to School (Free Press, 2005). "So much is built on the middle school education. If kids are put into accelerated classes but can't keep up, they get lost." And once lost in a middle school class, there is a risk of being lost throughout the rest of their school career.
That was a risk that concerned Pat Curry of Watkinsville, Ga. Curry's two daughters were already in their middle school's gifted program. The eighth grade Algebra 1 class was part of their gifted track but still needed the recommendation of the teacher. Both of Curry's daughters received the teacher's recommendation. "My older daughter started out OK," Curry says. "Unfortunately, the teacher didn't let me know she started having trouble until she had flunked a couple of tests. These kinds of kids, who aren't used to doing poorly in a class, aren't going to volunteer that kind of information to their parents." Curry hired a tutor for the rest of the year, and in ninth grade, her daughter ended up retaking Algebra 1, rather than moving on to the advanced class.